Thursday, December 1, 2011

That BBC Sports Personality list

The BBC has named its shortlist for Sports Personality of the Year. But oops, looks like they really meant Sportsman of the Year. The ten finalists, whittled down from a list which did include some women, were chosen by 27 sports editors from national and regional newspapers.

It's not that I begrudge any of the men on the list their moment of glory. But in a country the size of the UK and as successful in sport as they are, was it not possible to find one woman worthy of this title? 

Some of the women on the long list include world champion swimmer in 10km open water Kerri-Anne Payne; triathlete Chrissie Wellington World Champion for the 4th time this year; sprinter and Paralympian Stefanie Reid with 2 bronze medals from the IPC championships; World Taekwando champ Sarah Steveneson, cyclist Victoria Pendleton with 2 golds from the European championships, gold medal rower Kath Grainger, European champion boxer Nicola Adams and world champion swimmer Rebecca Adlington who has now spoken out to say well, let's just get on it next year. 

But why wait? If these women are good enough to perform successfully on the world stage, then why not be recognised at home? You can find articles about all of these women in the British newspapers who have now snubbed them. 

Ah, but not quite all - the nominating editors includes eds from Zoo and Nuts who both sent in all-male lists - no big surprise there if you've ever read 'em - but so did The People, The Independent (very surprised at this one), Metro, Irish News, the Evening Standard, the Daily Post, the Western Mail, and the Daily Star Sunday. That's ten of the 27 papers.

The Beeb announced yesterday they would review the process for 2012 in a watery statement that made no concessions to anything: ""It is too early to say what, if any changes will be made to the process..." Gee, thanks. 

If it's this hard for women to get recognition in sport, what chance at work or in the home? 

You can see the full list and shortlist here on the BBC Sports site. 

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